Timer



w M .m n 5 A 1 a Y MA 2 P m m W 5 R1 mun .nm E d P h m Sept. 8, 1925.

Patented Sept. 8, 1925. V Y I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

PAUL E. DEMMER, OF MARYSVILLE, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR, BY DIRECT AND MESNE ASSIGNIVIENTS, TO D. 85 W. SPECIALTY COMPANY, OF MARYSVILLE, CALIFORNIA,

A CORZPORA'IION.

TIMER.

Application filed April 3, 1922. Serial No. 548,903.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, PAUL E. DEMMER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Marysville, county of Yuba, State of Galitornia, have invented certain new and use:- ful Improvements in Timers; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,

and to the characters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this application. I

This invention relates to improvements in timers for use particularly on Ford cars, the principal objects being to produce a timer which may be readily installed in place of the one provided as regular equipment without necessitating any structural or other changes being made to the engine or other parts; which is so constructed that arcing is eliminated, thereby saving the contact strips and brushes from wear; and the troublesome coil-vibrators with which. Ford systems are equipped may be rendered. inactive when the batteries are used without interfering with the intensity of the have a single breaker-point mechanism to control the passage of-the current through the distributor rings which may be readily adjusted when necessary without removing the timer and which is within easy access of the operator and visible while any such adjustment is being made.

Another object is to provide a timer so constructed that missing of a spark is eliminated, and the device as a whole will give good service without repairs or replacements for a long period of time.

These objects I accomplish by means of such structure and relative arrangement of parts as will fully appear by a perusal of the following specification and claims.

In the drawings similar characters of reterenceindicate corresponding parts in the several views:

Fig. l is a front viewof the timer as sembled, with the removable section of: the cover removed to show the accessibility of the adjustable breaker-point mechanism.

Fig. 2 is a similar View with the cover entirely removed.

Fig. 3 is a cross section on the line of Fig. l.

Fig. 4 is a detached section assembly of a blruih and cam unit, mounted on the cams 121 t.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary cross section of.

casing is a cover 3, centrally cupped out as at i so that it may be held in place by the usual clamp member provided for this purpose on all" Ford cars (not shown).

This cover is partially cut away from its outer periphery toward the center as shown at 5, this cut away portion being normally filled by a removable cover se'gment'tl, which may be detachably connected to the casing and to the main cover member by any suitable clip or other holding means, such as is indicated in the drawings.

Mounted on the outer face of the wall 2 and insulated therefrom is a plate 7 having a fixed contact member 7, connected to a condenser 8 of standard form located at any suitablepoint, while co-operating with said contact is another contact 9 mounted on a movable arm 10 pivoted onto the wall 2 and held by spring means 11 so that the contacts normally engage, the arm 10 and casing being grounded, as is the magneto of the system and the condenser, so that all these members are in a common circuit;

Seated in the casing l on the opposite or inner side thereof from the wall 2 is a ring 12 of insulation material embedded flush in which is a continuous metal collecting ring 13, and spaced therefrom a plurality.

of segmental distributing rings 14, preferably four (one for each cylinder of the engine) and spaced from each other, the in sulation material of the ring 12 projecting therebetween. To each ring 1 is a system.

The insulation ring 12, on each side of the pins 15 and for the full width of said ring projects through the casing in the form of radial ribs as shown at 16, the casing being;- slctted to receive these ribs. In this manner not only are the pins well insulated from the casing, but the insulation rir" positively prevented from turnin tl1Q1..l.

The collecting ring 18 is connected in circuit with the plate 7, and the condenser, by a wire 17 or other suit-able means, so long as no contact with the casing is made.

The cam shaft 18 of the engine projects through the casing from the inner end and through the wall 2, terminating short of the face of the cover 3.

Fitted onto said shaft is a sleeve 19 on which is fixed an insulation arm 520 in the outer face of which a conducting brush member 21 is slidably mountec and adapted to engage the rings 18 and i l in common. The brush is forced into constant frictional engagement by spring means 22 acting thereon and seated in the arm 20.

Mounted on the shaft in fixed relation with respect to the arm 20 is a circular a 23, having a plurality of notches or recesses 2 1 in its outer face, the number of such recesses being the same as the number of mental distributing rings 14. The breakerarm 1 is provided with a lug; on its face adjacent the cam and is positioned to ride on the circular face thereof, at which time the arm will be raised and the contacts 7 and 9 broken.

lVhe-n with the rotation of the cam the recesses 21'- move across the la; 5, the latter drops thereinto, and the contacts are closed owing to the pressure exerted on the arm 10 by the spring 11.

The time of contact of the breaker points is less than the time of contact of the brush with the distributor rings, and takes place while the brush is intermediate the ends of any of such rings, so that the brush contacts with a ring before the circuit is closed, and the latter is again opened before the brush leaves the ring. This important feature, as will be evident, positively eliminates arcing or jumping of the current between the metal surfaces when separated, which causes the burning of the conductors-a cause of deterioration far greater than actual wear, which is neglible in comparison.

The brush-arm and cam are mounted and ield on the shaft in a definite fixed relation )y the following means: The sleeve 19 projects beyond the arm 20 toward the cam, and is slotted at such end as 2.11.26 to receive the central enlargement 27 of pin 2%, one end "f 'vhich is seated in the shaft 18 while the other end projects into a groove 29, narrower than the groove 26, cut in the adjacent end of the cam, which slips over the grooved end of the sleeve 15).

It will thus be seen that when once placed together in the sequence. named, neither the arm nor the cam can have rotative movement relative to each other or to the shaft, while at the same time the pin can never fall out. it the same time it is a very simplematter to assemble or dismount the parts when necessar The cam is held from movement outward ly of the shaft by a lock nut 30 screwed on the end of said shaft.

The value of functioning of a condenser in ignition apparatus is well known and needs no explanation. By reason of the use of such a device in a- Ford timer, the coil vibrators may be screwed down as their use is no longer imperative. If desired however, the condenser may be omitted, in which case the current will flew direct to the collecting rings, and the use of the vibrators must be continued.

In either case the current flows to the common collector rings and is there passed to the various coils through the distributor rings by reason of the common brush 21, the time and length of such distribution bein: governed by the making and breaking of the breaker points or contacts 7 and 9.

5y reason of the segmental cover, the lat tcr may be turned to the position shown in Fig. 1 without disturbing the clamp 01' holding means, when the breaker points will be fully exposed, and may be then inspected or adjusted without removing the timer or any part thereof from its place.

The auxiliary cover member (3 may then be replaced, and the cover as a whole turned to brin the cut away portion underneath, so as to remove the possibility of dust and dirt sifting into the interior.

From the foregoing description it will be readily seen that I have produced such a device as substantially fullills the objects of the invention as set forth herein.

l i hile this specification sets forth in detail the pr cut and prci'ierred construction of the device, still in practice such deviations from such detail may be resorted to as do not form a departure from the spirit of the invention, as defined by the appended claims.

Having thus desci 'bed my invention, what I claim as new and useful and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a timer having distributing}; rings and a breaker mechanism, a rotatable shaft, a sleeve longitudinally slotted at one end mounted on the shaft, said sleeve carrying ring engaging contacts, another s r eeve having a breaker actuating cam lit-ted over the ill) shaft and extended over the slotted end of the first named sleeve, said cam sleeve having an end slot to aline with the slot in the ing an end slot to aline with the slot in the other sleeve, and narrower than said other slot, a pin removably fitted into the shaft and projecting through the slots, said pin having an enlarged portion fitting the wider slot, and a nut on the shaft beyond the cam sleeve and impinging against the latter.

3. In a timer, a breaker mechanism mounted therein adjacent the outer face thereof, cover turnably mounted over said mechanism and partly cut away to expose the same, a removable cover'segment adapted to fit the cut away portion of the main cover and turnable therewith, and clip means between the segment and cover to enable the cover to be turned to any position Without the segment falling from place.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

PAUL E. DEMMER. 

